Tough opener

Mike Sciacca

The Edison High football team had to present its case Sunday for an

at-large bid into the CIF-Southern Section football playoffs. Now,

the Chargers -- arguably -- have the toughest first-round assignment

in Division I.

Edison (6-4 overall) was granted an at-large bid to the postseason

party and will travel Friday to face defending Division I champion,

Loyola. Game time is 7:30 p.m. and the game site as of Tuesday was

Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

“We thought we’d get in, and now that we are, we can’t complain

who we get,” Edison coach Dave White said. “We’ll be ready to go

Friday.”

Edison has found the going tough over the past two weeks. On Nov.

5, the Chargers suffered a heart-wrenching, 21-20 loss to rival

Fountain Valley at Anaheim Stadium. Last Friday, Esperanza rallied

late to pull out a 14-10 win in the regular season finale.

The two losses left Edison with a 2-3 Sunset League record and

Esperanza, by virtue of its win over the Chargers, wrapped up third

place and an automatic berth to the playoffs.

But with an overall record of 6-4 -- Edison’s other two losses

came in double overtime to Sunset League champion Los Alamitos and

20-14 in nonleague play to Mater Dei -- the Chargers figured to be a

strong contender for one of the four Division I at-large bids.

Now that they’ve secured that berth, it’s time to focus on Loyola.

Coach Steve Grady’s Lions (8-2) were dropped into a share of the

Serra League championship by league foe Santa Margarita, which pulled

off a 20-15 upset last Friday at Pierce College.

Loyola shared the Serra crown with Mater Dei, while the big win

earned Santa Margarita an at-large bid.

“They are the defending CIF champion in this division and are a

very, very good football team,” White said of the Lions. “They have

several returners back from last year’s team, so they’re really

talented once again.”

“Their coach said that ‘we didn’t get a very good draw, and

neither did they,’ and I agree. But hey, we’ll take it.”

Edison resided in the top five of the Division I poll the first

four weeks of the season, before falling to Mater Dei.

Despite the four losses, the Chargers definitely are a very

dangerous team that, with a play here or there, could easily be 10-0.

“One play in each of those games is the difference between four

losses and no losses,” White said. “We’re not that far away from

being 10-0.

“Obviously, we need to make that big play in the game to get that

win, and hopefully, we’ll make it Friday night.”

In other prep football action, the season came to an end Friday

for three other local teams.

Marina fell in its finale to Sunset League rival Fountain Valley,

39-0. The Barons, who got two touchdowns apiece from quarterback

Chris Debowski and back Bryan Schutte, broke the game open with a

21-point second quarter.

Marina ends its year 1-9 overall. The Vikings finished in

fifth-place in the Sunset League with a 1-4 mark.

Los Alamitos wrapped up a perfect Sunset League record (5-0) by

handling Huntington Beach, 42-0, at Veterans Stadium. The Oilers

ended their year at 4-5-1 overall, and in sixth place (0-5) in the

Sunset League.

Ocean View concluded its campaign with a 35-7 loss to Santa Ana at

Santa Ana Bowl. Quarterback Aaron Valenzuela, who accounted for just

over 100 yards of total offense, scored the lone touchdown for the

Seahawks on a second quarter run.

Ocean View’s season ended at 1-9 overall, and 0-6 in Golden West

League play.